Mayor of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba with great fanfare announced this week the start of the process to take over hijacked buildings in the inner city. The masterplan is to turn them into affordable-housing properties.
This is all good and well, but when asked what will become of those who will be evicted from these buildings, he offered a staggering reply: "The City of Joburg will take responsibility only for South African citizens." Perhaps he forgot the preamble of our Constitution that says: "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity."
He was vague about where those who are being displaced will now live, before hinting it was actually national government's problem - because the majority of those affected were undocumented foreigners.
The Times decided to visit the site where 200 people were moved to after being evicted from the Shongai Mansions in 2016. Since then, hundreds more people evicted from Fattis Mansions and the Cape York building have settled in dire conditions in tents at the same site, a piece of land hidden away in Turffontein.